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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Before I get into my reviews, I thought I'd give you an update on the local wild life :)

The Flamingo's were plenty warm in the recent snow and one actually was seen sledding from this miniature hill in the owners yard. It rained yesterday...I should have run down there to see if the owners had put out enough umbrellas!!! LOL

The LUXBAR LED Task Light I blogged about here arrived last evening. I have had a chance to assemble the light and move it around the house a bit....I'm still very impressed with the LUXBAR Light.

Assembly is required but it was quite easy...just one screw and it was put together.

Some bloggers wanted to know how much the LUXBAR weighed so here is the skinny on it's weight:

I weighed the base and arm separately for those of you who may be interested in getting the LUXBAR Clamp Light. The arm of the LUXBAR Light weighs 11.5 oz and is approximately 19 1/4 inches long.

The silver knob extended out from the light is the screw that attaches the light to the base. I left it in to show you how the light just slips onto the base. I unscrewed the silver knob and pushed the light onto the base and re-screwed the knob and wah lah...it was put together. The power cord, 74 inches long, plugged into the black circle you see above the knob. No tools required!!

The silver knob in this picture is how the LUXBAR can be adjusted by loosening and tightening that knob the light holds it's position snugly. No bumping or moving makes the neck droop. The LUXBAR rotates 90 degrees....basically up and down and side to side.

So I bet you are wondering how bright the lights appeared in a real house right? This is a photo I took of the LUXBAR sitting on my kitchen table with the lights in the kitchen turned off.

I raised the head and took a photo as well....ya just never know who's going to ask for that photo so I thought I'd just beat them to the punch :)

Then I brought the LUXBAR down to my sewing table. Remember, I bought the one with a base and didn't get the additional clamp (yet...but I'll be getting one). I had not really thought about using it next to my sewing machine because I have a Bendable Bright Light on my machine and it illuminates up my machine foot area wonderfully.

A blogger friend, Perry, wanted to see the LUXBAR demonstrated near a sewing machine so here you go :) Above it is sitting on the base next to my current sewing machine. My old machine has a Sew Steady Table so I also got it out and held the light arm to the acrylic table.

Above I'm holding it on the back of my Sew Steady Table and below it is in the front.

Since the arm is so light I believe it will hold onto the Sew Steady Table and not tip the table at all when I get a clamp. You can see it does illuminate the entire sewing bed.

Here is a photo of the LUXBAR sitting on top of my Sew Steady Table. If I were just doing some piecing and wanted more light this would be just fine. I certainly would not want it there for quilting or any large projects as it would be in the way on top of the table like this.

This light bar is what was supposed to give me some beautiful bright light....nope...after having Mr. McSteamy install this light and throwing the box away. The only lights that can work in this light bar are not bright enough to illuminate my sewing area...and when I changed the bulbs to brighter bulbs....the light smells like something is burning. I wish I had never bought it for this purpose in the first place.

Bottom line is I feel comfortable recommending the LUXBAR LED Task Light and I'm going to be enjoying mine. If you are in the market for a new Task Light, I'm offering IHAN Blog Readers a special price through the end of January :)

The PAL is a laser that assists people in centering their ME projects in the hoop. It can also be used in beading, scrapbooking, drawing etc.

You can see the laser here...it is lined up with the centering lines on this hoop. Now I know exactly where the center of my design needs to be. I took the PAL with me recently and asked some experienced ME gals what they thought of the PAL. They've been hopping for years so they didn't need any additional help in centering their designs. I think if you are new to ME hooping and want guidance the PAL does help align your design in the center.

The PAL is also advertised as another method of sewing perfect seams. The light can be positioned so that the laser marks the distance you want from your foot or needle and you use the laser light as a guide.

What I think the PAL is also good when you want to embroider a name or word next to a design or on a garment pocket. I would line up the laser and follow the horizontal line so the lettering would be straight and not slope down hill. If you were putting a name next to a pocket for instance....you cold align the laser with a button or the edge of a pocket to be sure it comes out straight. I hope this is all making sense....I'm certainly no expert...as you know.

This is not my embroidery piece, it was given to me by a friend. If I wanted to go back and hoop the block and add her name I could be sure it would be placed correctly.

I'll also embed a YouTube video here so you can see what I'm talking about.

Thank you Kelly for the pics! I believe you have answered my questions. As far as the one with a clamp, I don't think it would work well on a Sew Steady table like you are showing and would actually be in the way. The stand will would fine for that. However the Sew Ezi table, link below, which is what I have, is what I need it for and I believe it will work for that. I love this table as it is not too terribly expensive, the quality is very good, and it is light but very strong. This lamp will be perfect for it. here's the link to the table.http://www.seweziusa.com/

Hi Kelly,I have a similar light from another company. I placed it behind on the right side of my machine with the light running along the back of the machine. Angled it until it lit up my entire machine bed. Works great. And I'm with you in the more light the better time in my life. Love your site thanks.Kath

I read a short post about PAL on another blog - can't remember which. That blog didn't have all the details you included (thank you). This brings me to a question. I'm a rank beginner at ME. Our sewing machine (Husq Topaz 20) requires a USB stick in order to run the embroidery design. There is only one USB connection. How does PAL plug into the USB to be used to center a design when the design is on the USB stick? Please pardon my ignorance on ME. The reason I'm interested is because I want to figure out how to actually machine quilt in the hoop (saving $$ to buy the larger Husq hoop and quilting designs). Centering the design in the quilt blocks is important. So, I'm trying to figure out if the PAL would be helpful in my specific situation.

I have to say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE that light bar. I need one as much as I love it too. My sewing room is SO dark and no amount of lighting that we've added and spent money on has done a thing. It seems I have shadows everywhere in this room. My poor husband thinks I'm nuts when I say I need more light because I have 7 lights from clip on, floor, and table Ott's to a tall floor light that shines up and also has another adjustable light on the side of the floor lamp pole plus another undershelf light above my desk AND then the ceiling fan/light which has 3 50 watt Halogen lights. I LOVE the amount of light those Halogen give off but ACK the HEAT from them is horrible. It's like the sun is three feet above you shining directly onto you if you are in the direct line of those.

Anyway, I'll shut up now. I've already shown my husband your review but he kinda shook his head; mostly because he's been teasing me that I say "I WANT" about 50 times a week. LOL

Thank you for reading the IHAN Blog. I read every comment that is left here however I will not be responding to all coments for giveaways. There are times when I am juggling many tasks at one time and may not reply to all comments. Please e-mail me at IHaveANotion@yahoo.com if you need a reply quickly. I thank you for your understanding. Smiles,Kelly

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